How-To Guides: Beginner

A Complete Guide to the Metaverse

By Jinia Shawdagor | November 30, 2021

Metaverse is seen as a virtual club where one has to enter. However, the virtual club exists on the web3 platform in the same way the real club exists in the real world, only that the virtual club can operate independently of the outside world. 

Facebook recently changed its name to Meta, declaring Metaverse to be the future of the internet. Epic, the maker of online multiplayer game maker Fortnite, managed to raise a total of $1 bn, showing investors were willing to spend their money on immersive online experiences.

Metaverse has quickly developed into one of the biggest buzzwords in the technology industry, with investors yearning for a piece of it. So, what is Metaverse? What does it entail? And what are some of the big opportunities in it?

In this guide, we will take you through all the important things you need to know about Metaverse and some of the best examples with companies using it. 

What is Metaverse?

Metaverse refers to an alternate virtual universe reality with shared 3D spaces where individuals can attend virtual events as they interact. It is possible to construct architectural structures, organize events and earn income. Metaverse is considered the future place for business buildings, social gatherings, and people can create anything they want.

Metaverse is seen as a virtual club where one has to enter. However, the virtual club exists on the web3 platform in the same way the real club exists in the real world, only that the virtual club can operate independently of the outside world. 

Since Metaverse is a shared environment, people who have entered there will interact with others. Metaverse is an excluded virtual space for holding interaction. It uses a web3 platform and is completely different from the social spaces most people are familiar with, like chat rooms and social media. 

Origin of Metaverse

The word “metaverse” came into existence from the novel “Snow Crash,” Written by Neal Stephenson, a Science fiction novelist, back in 1992. Surprisingly, it had the same meaning in the novel as it has today. In the novel, Metaverse was regarded as an internet successor that is in 3D VR form.

According to the novel, Metaverse was developed and managed by one corporation. It resembled a virtual city lining a single road running along the equator of a featureless and empty virtual sphere. The 65,000 kilometers long and 100 meters wide road was full of fun things and ads.

However, well-off users had their CR displays to help them access Metaverse with fewer privileges users gaining access through the public terminals. The novel’s concept is just a reference point that most Metaverse followers recognize. 

How Metaverse Works?

Try thinking of Metaverse as a visually rendered internet where you go instead of just having a look at it. Instead of being behind the screen, the devices you use will help in projecting Metaverse surrounding you.

The same way you connect to the internet is the same way you will connect to Metaverse. However, you will not turn on the 4G or Wi-Fi in your phone or laptop; you will be using a head-mounted display like a VR headset or a pair of smart glasses to view content.

You will be in a position of manipulating virtual objects with the help of motion tracking gadgets like Facebook’s neutral wristband.

Your metaverse persona or avatar will be in a position of walking around, interacting with different things in the world, meeting avatars of other people regardless of their current location.

Most companies will try monopolizing some metaverse parts. It will be the same way some companies dominate their respective fields on the internet today. However, no entity or company will own the Metaverse, just like no single corporation owns the internet.

All metaverse transactions and identities will be organized through the public blockchain technology, ensuring no fraud or safety cases. Funds in the Metaverse will be cryptocurrencies mashups like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and the V-Bucks you can purchase in Fortnite.

Possibly every virtual world will have its tokens depending on the blockchain system, which you will exchange for other worlds’ tokens. Thus, you will be in a position of owning bespoke digital assets and other valuables in NFTs form, which will act like jewelry, art, or any other type of value present in the physical world.

Several entrepreneurs and companies are currently thinking about developing and investing in Metaverse. At the moment, it is still a conceptual model that is starting to form in the collective consciousness when thinking about the methods you can use to make online environments immersive and integrate them deeply into our lives. 

Building Metaverse

Metaverse will need lots of new technologies, innovations, companies, protocols, and work discoveries. With Metaverse being the future internet, there will be drastic changes in digital entertainment and remote work. It will emerge after some time as different services, products, and capabilities integrate and meld together.

One must think of three main elements when it comes to building Metaverse. The three elements include:

  • Concurrency Infrastructure

Technology does not exist at the foundational level for people taking part in the shared experience. The Metaverse needs an infrastructure that is currently unavailable, and the internet was never made to offer anything close to this experience. Metaverse was specifically designed to help share files between computers. Most of the underlying systems on the internet are developed around a single server communicating with an end-user device or another server.

The model is still available today. Although there are billions of people on Facebook today, every user shares a personal connection with the Facebook server and not another user. The Metaverse will need something like video games or video conferencing to operate.

The experiences work well due to the constant connection updating in real-time and with some accuracy levels that other programs do not need. There are times when they tend to have high concurrency levels.

  • Standards and Protocols

Standards and protocols for file loading, visual presentation, graphics data, and communications are the reason why the internet we experience works today. It comprises everything from web socket protocol underlying every real-time communication form between a browser and another internet server to consumer recognizable GIFs file types.

Metaverse will need a complex, border, and resilient S&Ps set. The benefits of live synchronous and interoperability mean you will have to prune some existing standards and have a standard around a smaller set for every function.

The companies are resistant to cross integrating data sharing and their systems. Such moves will increase the value of the digital economy while weakening hyper valuable network effects, making it easier for the user to move their digital lives to a different place.

  • Content 

Businesses and consumers will never embrace a proto Metaverse. It is because it is available in the same way Metaverse standards can never be declared. 

When a mall can fit some group of people or stores, it does not attract a brand or consumer. Facebook, the world’s largest social platform, did not just work because it was a social network. 

It worked well as a campus, hot or not, before turning to a digital yearbook and messaging service. Like Facebook, Metaverse will also have to be populated instead of just being popular, and the population will have to fill the digital world with the right content to consume and things to do. 

Why Metaverse is Gaining Traction

There is always hype whenever augmented reality and digital worlds pop up after every few years. However, most of them die away after some time. For the first time, augmented reality and metaverse excitement seem not to be fleeting in the digital world. With virtual reality gaming and connectivity advancements, it seems the technology is getting there this time around.

Chipmaker Nvidia and Microsoft have joined Facebook in talking about the Metaverse. “Several companies will be building virtual environments and worlds using the Metaverse just like companies have been doing so in the World Wide Web,” Revealed Nvidia’s Omniverse Vice President, Richard Kerris. 

Roblox, a gaming platform, is also already creating a space where people can play, work, learn and socialize in the Metaverse.

There is also an enormous excitement among big tech firms and wealthy investors about Metaverse. Meterversearve, having proved to be the future of enterprise tech, no one wants to be left out as it seems to be the future of the internet.

Firms Working on Metaverse Applications

The vision of Microsoft for Metaverse is directed towards developers and business enterprises. Microsoft is developing shared platforms that will build digital models of logical concepts or physical items useful to different businesses. It can be anything from simple products to complex environments. 

Microsoft Metaverse world will be in a position of tracking and mapping anything from warehouses, stores, and factories to apps, stocks, and ideas. 

Nvidia is developing a similar metaverse application referred to as Omniverse. It will allow the participants to develop digital twins of any physical products to ensure engineers worldwide can collaborate. 

The principal metaverse application of Facebook will revolve around virtual meetings. They will be willing to create virtual rooms that will have experience and hang out with other people regardless of where you are. 

Metaverse Projects 

There are different platforms in the Metaverse which are on the upswing in terms of popularity and usage worldwide. However, several people are not familiar with any particular ones unless they are already in the niche. To ensure you understand what Metaverse is all about and its uses, we will be looking at some metaverse projects. 

  • Decentraland

Decentraland’s main objective is to purchase virtual real estate named LAND. Decentraland is based on Ethereum blockchain and NFTs assets. It is an excellent metaverse that comes with its virtual marketplace filled with digital events and assets.

In case you do not have an interest in Decentraland and are not ready to spend money, you will still be in a position of creating an avatar and exploring the virtual world while communicating and talking with other people. 

  • Virtual Reality Chat

Virtual Reality Chat is unique in different ways. In case you are a starter, this VRChat is the most recognizable to the general public. Most importantly, it is the Metaverse that can classify as a video game. Several people consider it as a video game instead of Metaverse. VRChat is a D3 virtual chat room where you can role play as an avatar while talking to or interacting with other avatars. 

  • vEmpire DDAO

vEmpire is focused on the actual Decentralized Autonomous Organization decentralization. It strives at fighting against the decentralized projects which have been centralized. vEmpire will facilitate token staking of the Metaverse. It will make it possible for users to stake tokens like SAND and MANA in the Defi-Esque staking strategy, which will return to the original cryptocurrency VEMP. 

VEmpire makes use of staked tokens to purchase and monetize Metaversal land before distributing profits between stakes. This project aims to prevent Metaverse from being taken and controlled by institutions that can convert it into a huge cash cow instead of its intended and original purpose. 

  • Somnium Space

Somnium Space developed a virtual reality universe using its own money and economy that are all linked together. You can access the platform via 2D mode using any device, or you can use VR technology to get yourself into the Metaverse using your mobile gadget or desktop. 

The potential to examine gaze tracking, conversion rates, and user engagements is unique about Somnium Space. 

  • Sandbox 

Sandbox resembles VR Chat as it was developed to be a mobile video game. However, another firm purchased it and converted it into a voxel-based blockchain game. It aims at letting its users come up with their assets that they can use to make money from. 

There are several types of assets users can create that are minted in NFT as blockchain. It is possible to play games which other users have created to help them earn money. Sandbox is inviting several people since it is an excellent place for both consumers and creators. It is a perfect example that exemplifies the potential and concept behind Metaverse.

  • Crypto Voxels

Cryptovoxels refers to a virtual reality environment that is user-owned and is based on the Ethereum blockchain that comprises Origin City. The company holds the roadways of the original city while ordinary people in NFT form their own private land lots. 

Apart from exploring Origin City, users are in a position of creating, purchasing, and selling their virtual assets using in-game voxel builders. After asset creation, you can always trade them with different NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea. 

You do not have to install an Ethereum wallet or have passes to interact in the Crypto Voxels VR world. If you want to take advantage of all the things offered in Crypto Voxels metaverse, you will have to make sure that you have an Ethereum compatible wallet like MetaMask.

How Exciting is This?

Imagine working, studying, earning money, attending concerts, playing games, or interacting in an online realm both infusion and extension of the world. With the world becoming more digital, more businesses are investing in metaverse to avoid being left out in the network’s ability to transform the world.